Tobacco conveyor

ABSTRACT

The invention consists of a tobacco conveyor adapted to elevate tobacco in a barn for curing, said conveyor including a conveyor support consisting of telescopic channel sections that are vertically adjustable by a chain drive, a supporting carriage for horizontally moving the conveyor in a confined space, and electric motors for supplying the power for all moving components.

United States Patent Inventor Rex Lyons 500 Andrea St., Lexington, Ky. 40503 Appl. No. 813,098

Filed Apr. 3, 1969 Patented Jan. 26, 1971 TOBACCO CONVEYOR 5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl .1 198/139, 198/233 Int. Cl B65g 15/22 Field of Search 198/ l 39,

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,774,461 12/1956 Young 198/139 3,283,856 10/1966 Stewart 214/55 Primary ExaminerRichard E. Aegerter Attorney-Ben Cohen ABSTRACT: The invention consists of a tobacco conveyor adapted to elevate tobacco in a barn for curing, said conveyor including a conveyor support consisting of telescopic channel sections that are vertically adjustable by a chain drive, a supporting carriage for horizontally moving the conveyor in a confined space, and electric motors for supplying the power for all moving components.

PATENTEU JAN26 1971 3; 557 939 sum 1 0F 4 CONTROL PANEL Pomsa Ma INVENTOR REX LYONS ATTORNEY PATENTED JAN26 new SHEET 2 BF 4 INVENTOR REX LYONS ATTORNEY PATENTED JAN26 IBYI SHEET 3 UF 4 Tow INVENTOR REX LYON:

AT'TOR NEYS PATENTEU JAN26 |97| SHEET Q [1F 4 INVENTOR REX LYO N S ATTORNEY TOBACCO CONVEYOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is well known in the tobacco growing art that when the tobacco plants have ripened in the field, they are cut and spared on elongated sticks for convenient storing and curing in the drying barn. It is usual to store a great number of the sticks in the extreme upper portion of the barn and since each stick is quite heavy, several laborers are required to manually elevate the tobacco sticks from the ground up to the top of the storing barn. It is conventional to provide a power actuated elevating mechanism which will perform the laborious task of elevating the tobacco sticks and such a mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. to Young, No. 2,774,461, issued Dec. 18, 1956.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention involves a tobacco conveyor comprising a conveyor support, consisting of three or more steel channel sections so sized that they telescope one into the other, chains cooperating with the channel sections, means for taking up or letting out slack in said chains as the conveyor support is raised or lowered, a drive mechanism consisting of driving sprockets, conveyor chain and idler sprockets, a supporting carriage with a self-propelling feature, and electric motors for supplying power for all the moving components BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating the hoisting mechanism of the invention and showing the same in a substantially fully retracted position;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the chain mechanism by which the telescoping sections of the upright standard are operated showing the chain mechanism removed from the surrounding structure with the parts retracted;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the upper portion of the hoisting mechanism with some of the parts removed;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the supporting carriage including a portion of the conveyor with some of the operating parts omitted.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals denote like parts throughout the several views, the present conveyor comprises a carriage consisting of a supporting platform 10 upon which the conveyor is mounted. The platform includes an undercarriage 11 for supporting the axle'l2 on which are mounted the wheels 13. Also mounted on the axle 12 is a sprocket 14 connected to sprocket 15 by a sprocket chain 16. The sprocket 15 is carried by a rotating shaft 17 operated by a motor 18 rigidly supported on platform 10. The aforesaid described mechanism provides the motive power for moving the carriage into and within the barn. At the front end of the carriage a vertical post 19 supports two wheels 20 to complete the wheel arrangement of the carriage.

As seen in FIG. 7, the supporting platform 10 consists of an open rectangular frame of suitable rigid bar members and a transverse connecting bar 21 for a purpose to be described as the description proceeds.

The conveyor support consists of three steel channel sections 22, 23, 24, so sized that channel section 23 telescopes within channel section 22 and channel section 24 telescopes within channel section 23. The channel members are adapted to be extended or retracted to raise or lower the conveyor support to various heights.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outer hollow channel 22 extends the full length of the conveyor, and the channel sections are shown in fully retracted position. Rigidly supported adjacent the lower end of channel section 22 is a drive motor 25 turning worm and gear 26 which turns a drive shaft 27 on which outer drive sprockets 28 and 29 are rigidly mounted. Also mounted on said shaft are freely rotating sprockets 3, 31, 32 and 33. At the upper end of channel section 24, an outwardly extending supporting member 34 is rigidly secured. Supporting member 34 carries a rotating shaft 35, to the outer ends of which a pair of sprocket gears 36 and 37 are attached. Also rigidly attached to channel section 24 are bearing plates 38 and 39. A suitable bracket 40, rigidly secured to channel section 24, located above upper bearing plate 38 carries a motor 41 having a rotating shaft 42 to the lower end of which a pinion gear 43 is attached. Cooperating with pinion gear 43 is a spur gear 44 mounted at the upper end of a screw shaft 45. The lower end of screw shaft 45 is rigidly attached to the lower bearing plate 39 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. Mounted for movement along the screw shaft 45 is a threaded block 46 which in turn carries with it guide blocks 47, 48 mounted for sliding vertical movement on guide rods 49, 50 anchored to bearing plates 38 and 39. Mounted also on guide block 47 are sprockets SI, 52 and on guide block 48, sprockets 53, 54.

As seen in FIGS. 2 and 4, a cable 55 has one end secured to the threaded block 46, passes over a pulley 56 mounted at the upper end of channel section 22, with the opposite end of the cable secured to the lower end of channel section 23. A second cable 57 has one end secured to the upper end of channel section 22, passes over a pulley 58 mounted at the upper end of channel section 23 and with the opposite end of the cable secured to the lower end of channel section 24.

A conveyor chain 59, having mounted thereon a plurality of books 60 for holding the load to be elevated, constitutes a continuous chain drive and is moved by drive sprocket 28 as viewed in FIG. I, carried up over sprocket 36 at the top of the conveyor support, back down around free rotating sprockets 32, 33, up to free rotating sprockets 51 and 53, back down around sprockets 30 and 31, and back up around free rotating sprockets 52 and 54 and back down around sprockets 29 and 37, thereby constituting the continuous chain drive. Thus, the lowering of threaded block 46 is synchronized with the raising of channel sections 23 and 24 by the location of the attachment of cables 55 and 57 to channel sections 23 and 24. As the distance between sprockets 51, 52, 53 and 54 and the drive shaft 27 becomes closer, the distance between sprockets 36, 37 and the drive shaft 27 becomes greater, taking up the excess slack in the conveyor chain 59 caused by the decreased distance between sprockets 51, 52, 53 and 54 and the drive shaft sprockets 28-, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33.

Thus, it will be seen that the operation of the motor 41 will serve to extend the channel sections to increase the height of the conveyor and thereby elevate the sticks upon which the tobacco is threaded. The sticks, one of which is shown in i dotted lines in FIG. 1, is indicated by numeral 61. Also shown in FIG. I is a control panel, indicated by numeral 62 for operating the various electric motors heretofore described. To retract the channel sections to thereby contract the present conveyor to its retracted position, the preceding sequence of extending the conveyor is reversed by activating a reverse switch (not shown) on the control panel 62.

As shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 1 and- 7, in the retracted position of the hoist, when not in use for elevating purposes and for transporting the hoist from place to place, the hoist can be tilted to a horizontal position. This is accomplished by providing a pair of rigid support members 63, 64 on transverse bar 21. At the upper ends of the support member are pillow block bearings 65 for receiving a shaft 66 secured to casing 22 whereby the hoist can be pivoted to horizontal position by applying manual force to the upper part of the casing. A support member 67 is carried at the rear of the platform 10, to support the hoist in its horizontal position while the hoist is transported when not in hoisting position.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that minor changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention except as may be required by the scope of the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A tobacco conveyor comprising a supporting platform mounted on wheels means for moving said platform, a conveyor support mounted on said platform and extending upwardly therefrom, said conveyor support comprising a bottom channel member, upper and lower channel members telescoping within each other and within the bottom channel member, means for raising and lowering said upper and lower channel members with respect to each other and with respect to the bottom channel member, a horizontal drive shaft mounted adjacent the lower end of the bottom channel member, drive sprockets mounted on said drive shaft, a horizontal shaft mounted at the upper end of the upper channel member, sprocket members mounted on said upper horizontal shaft, vertical guide rods adjacent the conveyor support, a vertical screw shaft, a threaded block vertically movable on said screw shaft and guided by said guide rods, intermediate sprockets supported by said threaded block, an endless conveyor chain moving over said lower sprockets, said upper sprockets and said intermediate sprockets, and cooperating hooks mounted on said conveyor chain for receiving tobacco sticks and raising same by movement of the chain.

2. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, upright standards mounted on said supporting platform, means pivotally securing said bottom channel member to said upright standards whereby the conveyor support can be tilted to horizontal position.

3. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, and an electric motor for operating said conveyor chain.

4. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, and an electric motor for raising and lowering said upper and lower channel members.

5. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, an electric motor for operating said conveyor chain and an electric motor for raising and lowering said upper and lower channel membetsv 

1. A tobacco conveyor comprising a supporting platform mounted on wheels , means for moving said platform, a conveyor support mounted on said platform and extending upwardly therefrom, said conveyor support comprising a bottom channel member, upper and lower channel members telescoping within each other and within the bottom channel member, means for raising and lowering said upper and lower channel members with respect to each other and with respect to the bottom channel member, a horizontal drive shaft mounted adjacent the lower end of the bottom channel member, drive sprockets mounted on said drive shaft, a horizontal shaft mounted at the upper end of the upper channel member, sprocket members mounted on said upper horizontal shaft, vertical guide rods adjacent the conveyor support, a vertical screw shaft, a threaded block vertically movable on said screw shaft and guided by said guide rods, intermediate sprockets supported by said threaded block, an endless conveyor chain moving over said lower sprockets, said upper sprockets and said intermediate sprockets, and cooperating hooks mounted on said conveyor chain for receiving tobacco sticks and raising same by movement of the chain.
 2. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, upright standards mounted on said supporting platform, means pivotally securing said bottom channel member to said upright standards whereby the conveyor support can be tilted to horizontal position.
 3. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, and an electric motor for operating said conveyor chain.
 4. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, and an electric motor for raising and lowering said upper and lower channel members.
 5. A tobacco conveyor as defined in claim 1, an electric motor for operating said conveyor chain and an electric motor for raising and lowering said upper and lower channel members. 